In 2017 the United States experienced one of the worst dam failures in recent history when the Oroville Dam partially split, causing major downstream evacuations and damages.
The cause of the problem was unstable bedrock beneath the dam that consequently eroded and structural weakness due to deterioration.
Since then the dam has been repaired and strengthened, but it is still somewhat of a public safety hazard.
One of the major issues with the upgrades applied to the Oroville Dam and other aging infrastructure across the US is that they haven’t necessarily taken into account the context that the infrastructure is now situated within: a changing climate that is not likely to ever be the same as it was when the infrastructure was built.
American Rivers weighs in:
“Updating our infrastructure is important, but it’s critical that it’s done in a way that is relevant to the context we live in: a changing and increasingly variable climate. More extreme weather events such as floods or drought have become commonplace. These climatic variations put increased strain on the infrastructure in terms of ability to function during extreme weather events (i.e. hydroelectric power generation during droughts and ability to safely store water in a Probable Maximum Flood). Even since DWR reconstructed both spillways on Oroville Dam, the release capability still falls short of the standard for a Probable Maximum Flood situation, putting the dam and the people and ecosystem downstream at risk (Independent Forensic Team Report).”
The principle of applied contextualization in infrastructure upgrade planning is one that should be readily embraced whether the infrastructure in question is a dam, a bridge, or a single pipeline – times have changed, and approach strategies need to reflect that.
This is a worldwide issue, not just the USA, and needs to be included in your infrastructure renewal and upgrade planning, and your asset management planning and future investment projections
PHOTO CREDIT: By CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCE – http://pixel-ca- wr.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000OxvlgXg3yfg/G00003YCcmDTx48Y/Oroville-Spillway-Incident, Public Domain, Link
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